WellesleyWeston Magazine

WINTER 2015-2016

Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.

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the average age of someone who is
homeless in Massachusetts is eight years old," said
Judy Mongiardo, Network Coordinator for Family
Promise Metrowest (FPM). From 2007 to 2014, the
number of homeless families in the state increased by
94 percent, from 2,468 families to 4,781, according to
the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.
"It's one thing to hear these statistics," Mongiardo
said, "it's quite another to share a meal or prepare a
place to sleep for one of these children night after
night." And that's exactly what the nonprofit FPM has
been doing in Wellesley and surrounding communi-
ties since it served its first homeless family in 2008.
A cooperative, interfaith partnership, FPM offers
help and hope to families with children who are
homeless — referred to as "guests"— by providing
safe, transitional shelter, meals, and supportive case
management as they seek permanent housing. The
one-on-one dynamic of cooking and sharing a meal,
or helping a child with homework, can help transform the perception of family homelessness
as one of overwhelming, but anonymous, proportions, to one with the very tangible goal of
helping individual families — who have names, faces, smiles, laughter, and dreams — to find
permanent housing within our communities.
Mongiardo volunteered for the program back in New Jersey, where it was started by Karen
Olson in the 1980s. Olson had noticed the growing number of parents working full-time at
minimum wage jobs who were unable to afford the rising rents in the area. A disruption
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volunteering
community service
helping out
doing our part
contributions
neighbor to neighbor
philanthropy
Family Promise Metrowest
B E T S Y L AW S O N writer
good works
"